Shadows
by Au2bot Starlight
Summary: (AU) Sometimes our lives become shadows as pain and misery takes hold of us. In the shadows we change into something we swear never to become. And in the shadows comes darkness that no one can hide from. Not even the light can save us from them...
1. A Shadow of Your Own Self

**A Shadow of Your Own Self**

She wasn't always like this.

No. Her name used to be Starsinger. She was once a carefree and trusted everybot she met. She used to smile at everything and did all she could to make others laugh. And if they wouldn't laugh, she would at least try and make them crack a smile. Any size would work for her. Big or small, it didn't matter to her. A smile was a smile no matter the size. She was also once a nice femme who cared about others and hated to fight. She would have rather solved things peacefully rather than with violence. After all, violence never solved anything.

Even when she was botnapped and sold into illegal slavery, she still hated to fight. Unfortunately, being in slavery and working as a slave for somebot who abuses both mentally and physically, she learned to do whatever she was told to do without question.

When she was a slave, she heard of a mech called Megatronus, a minor who became a gladiator and fought in the Pits. She was entranced by the way he spoke up for those who were of the lowest caste. It was like he knew about her and her situation. Megatronus had sparked something she hadn't felt since she was a youngling right after she was botnapped.

Hope. She now had hope that life would be better if she could just somehow escape this prison and join Megatronus' side in support of the lower castes. With that new found hope, she patiently waited for a time to escape unnoticed.

A quarter vorn later, a perfect opportunity arose as her masters went out to a party for the highest of castes only. She left without a second thought as she tried to find her way to Megatronus.

She upgraded to an adult while on the streets. As she lived on the streets, she scavenged for energon and worked for it. But sometimes she would have to go an orn without any and starve.

And that's how she got here.

She was in a dark and dirty ally, still wet from the earlier acid rainstorm, low on energy and about to go into emergency stasis so her body can conserve whatever energon it still had. The lights in her optics slowly went out as she went into stasis.

Sometime later, she awoke to find herself in a cell and refueled.

"'Et your fraggin' aft over 'ere, Shadowstar!" A dark green and brown mech called her.

She snapped out of her memory's and looked to her master. She got up and moved towards him so she could start the next match.

When she got here, she learned she was now literally living in the Pits and there was no way out except for either fighting your way out or being offlined by another's servos. Nearly offlining with the first swing of her opponent's sword, she quickly learned that it was kill or be killed down there. The very orn she made her first kill was the orn Starsinger died. For she became something she swore she would become.

No. She was no longer Starsinger. That life is nothing but a dream now. She no longer had a yellow and white paint scheme that had a natural shine to it. Her paint no longer shined brightly as light hit it. Like a star.

No. Her name was Shadowstar now. A sparkless murderer. Starsinger only existed in her memoirs. She was now a shadow of her former self after she was forced to go against what she believed. After she was given forced battle programming. Her paint scheme was now dull and scratched from the countless fights she has done in the past. Her paint was now black with purple trim around the edges of her armor. She wore a purple visor and black face mask at all times so no one could see the sadistic grin on her face and the evil glint in her optics as she takes another life.

No, Starsinger was gone forever and was never coming back. Nothing could bring Starsinger back from the dead. Not even Primus. She was nothing but a mere memory.

A _shadow_.

* * *

**Sooo this was originally supposed to be a bio of my OC, Shadowstar, but it somehow turned into a story and this is the result of it. I hope I did well with the third person POV since I normally do first. This is also part of the reason I've been kinda slow with updating 'The Pit Just Happened?'. But don't worry! TPJH is my main story so I'll be working on that the most till it's finished.  
**

**Also every chapter has a song dedicated to it. This one is** _'A Shadow of Your Own Self' _**by** _'Sirenia'._

**Hope you like it, if you do, leave a review or favorite/follow :)**

**- Au2bot Starlight**


	2. Back For More

**Back For More**

Reaching the fighting ring, Shadowstar grabbed her favorite weapons, two sharp energon swords, and walked into the pit as the announcer called her designation. Walking out of the tunnel that led to the ring, the gate fell as soon as she was through so no one could leave till there was only one survivor. And that survivor was always her. As Shadowstar fought over the vorns, she quickly became the top gladiator and the crowd loved her. The other gladiators here though, quickly learned to fear her or if they were stupid enough, they challenged her and paid the ultimate price for it. Their lives. There was a prize though. If anyone could offline her, then they would be known as the best gladiator of the Pits of Kaon.

Standing in the fighting pit, Shadowstar listened to the crowd as the cheered for her. Somebots shouted that they wished to bond with her or for her to frag them, but she never paid them any mind.

She didn't have to wait long for her newest opponent to step out of the opposite tunnel and show themselves. They were a huge bulking dark red mech who's armor looked like it could take a punch as the deep gashes and dents could suggest. The mech moved toward her with predatory moves, as if she was nothing but new pray that could easily be taken down. He swung his sharp mace easily as if it weighed nothing.

Shadowstar smirked under her face mask and tuned out the crowd as she studied the mechs movements. _She_ was the predator here and this idiot was _her_ pray.

The mech sudden'y charged, but she was ready. She rolled under the mace as it was swung toward her. The mech obviously expected to hit her as he over balanced just slightly. A mech or femme in the stands might not have noticed the overbalance, but she did. After all, she wasn't the best for nothing.

Shadowstar took advantage of the overbalance and stabbed her sword into the mech's side, right in between a small gap in his armor. The mech screamed in pain and surprise. Shadowstar ripped the sword out, tearing both inner workings and armor off of him so there was now a hole in his abdomen. She spun away from him as he swung his mace double handed at her. His attack was sloppy as he fought the pain. He continued to swing at her while she expertly dodged.

As he continued to swing, Shadowstar watched as he started slowing after a little bit from lack of energon. She took advantage of this also and rushed his. She sliced the back of his right knee, bringing the larger mech down to his knee. He struggled to stand up as she rushed him again and sliced off both his arms right below the elbow joints. He screamed in pain again as his arms and weapon fell to the ground.

Shadowstar approached the mech with a predatory air about her. She grinned and took pleasure as she saw the mech's optics widen with fear laced with pain.

He knew she was going to offline him.

The red mech fell onto his back and did his best to back away from her as she approached him. She walked up to him and stabbed his only good limb. She slowly slid her other sword down the one in his leg, making the wound bigger. She then slowly pulled them apart till their was a huge hole and his leg was useless. She then proceeded to stab each sword into the mech's upper arms, pinning him to the ground. She sat on the mech's waist and straddled him and dug her servo into the wound in his side. She grabbed a handful of wiring in his protoform and ripped it out slowly. The mech twisted and writhed in pain under her as she pulled her servo out.

She then brought her servos up to his chassis and slipped her fingers under the armor on his chest. She started tearing off the mechs armor so the mech's protoform was now showing. Shadowstar put her clawed fingers on his chest and raked them across his protoform till his spark chamber was revealed. The entire time, the mech continued to scream and writhe, trying to throw her off. Shadowstar put a servo on his chamber and he immediately stilled except for his uncontrolled shivering. But that was to expected since his life was only at her fingertips, literally.

She leaned forward till her mouth was next to his audio. "The only pray here is _you_."

The mech's optics widened as she said that, he knew his time in this Primus forsaken pit was about to come to- Shadowstar stabbed her servo into the mech's chamber and crushed his spark before he could finish his final thought.

Shadowstar took her hand out of the now deactivated mech's empty spark chamber. She stood up and watched the color fade from his armor so it was now a dull lifeless gray. She looked down at herself and watched as the mech's energon that splattered her slide down her own armor so it made blue bloody streaks. Energon dripped from the servo she had used to crush the mech's spark.

She reached down and ripped her swords from the mech and walked toward the tunnel she used to come in, completely ignoring the crowd like she always did when she made a kill.

Shadowstar walked back to her quarters and found it amusing as everybot jumped out of her way as she walked down the halls. They knew she wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who got in her way. Reaching her quarters, she grabbed a cloth and sat on her berth and began whipping the blue energon off of herself.

The black femme's body, despite all the armor, was lighter than it looked, allowing her to move faster. Her body was also an unusual design, one built for fighting. Her waist and hips were slimmer than most femmes while her legs thickened past the knees till they were pretty big. Big enough to deliver a powerful kick, but not big enough to hinder movement. The same was with her arms. They were narrow and thickened past the elbow while her fingers were like claws, sharp and deadly. Shadowstar also had audio horns and a single antennae on the right side of her helm.

As she cleaned herself, her door slid open to reveal her master.

"Way ta 'o kid! Da crowd love da 'ay ya killed da last mech. We 'ot more credits tin da last match!" Master cheered.

Shadowstar only grunted. The slagger wouldn't of cared if she offlined suddenly. He only cared for the credits she earned for him. She turned back to cleaning off the drying energon.

* * *

A deca-cycle passed before somebot else was pitted against her. In the ring, she watched as a shivering opal colored mech, covered on dents and paint scratched, was pushed into the ring. She raised an opticridge behind her visor as she watched him hold tight to the sword that was too big for him close to his body. He looked around warily and froze as soon as he saw Shadowstar.

_They must be putting him against me as an 'initiantion', _Shadowstar thought with annoyance. She was the best fragging gladiator, not some slagging initiator for the newbies. They were a waste of her time and skill.

She decided for the sake of the poor mech, she would offline him quickly so he wouldn't have to become something like her. She was about to flip her sword so she was holding the tip to throw it when there was a rumble above her head and the whole place suddenly started shaking with bits of the ceiling falling into the pit and stands. There was another rumble, shaking and parts of the ceiling falling and another quickly followed the second.

There was a loud creaking and screech of metal scraping metal before the roof collapsed and caved in on the pit and everybot inside.

* * *

**I hope I made the fighting scene good. I'm pretty terrible with them T-T**

_'Back For More' - Five Finger Death Punch_

**I hope you like it so far. If you do, then please leave a review or favorite/follow :)**

**-Au2botStarlight**


	3. Meet The Monster

**Meet The Monster**

Shadowstar watched with wide optics as the roof fell all around her. She watched as the newbie and the spectators were crushed. She quickly sprang into action as instinct kicked in. She dodged left and right, dove and rolled. Her sparkbeat hammered in her audios as the ceiling finished falling all around her.

When it all stopped and the debris settled, all was silent except for the screams of pain of those who survived. Shadowstar looked up and widened her optics at the sight above her.

She could see them. After vorns in the Pit, she thought she would never see them again, but she did. She saw hundreds of stars. She stared for a few breems before she noticed lights flashing at high speeds above the gaping hole. She activated the rarely used boosters on her pedes and flew out of the Pit.

What she saw on the surface surprised her. All around her, both mech and femmes were fighting and laser fire shot around her. As she looked, a mech nearby gave a war cry and charged her. She turned toward him and swung her swords that she somehow managed to keep a hold on. She cut off the mechs head, spraying her with his warm energon, and stepped to the side so he wouldn't fall on her. The headless mech's momentum carried both his head and body over the edge of the hole and into the Pit. Shadowstar barely heard him hit the debris below with a loud clatter.

Another bot shot her, hitting her back. Shadowstar growled and turned to the one who shot her. Spotting them, she charged and made quick work of them, adding more energon to her armor.

Pretty soon, mechs of all shapes, sizes, and color were trying to kill her. -Or at least that's what she thought.- The only thing they all had in common was a sharp pointed purple face that each of them carried on some part of their bodies. The femme didn't care though. She only cared about survival and with each kill she made, more and more warm energon sprayed her form, making her look like the demon she is.

As she fought, she spotted five mechs transforming and combining till they formed one large mech that toward over everyone on the battlefield. This one too had a purple face on its arm.

Liking a challenge when she see's one, Shadowstar ran toward it. As she ran, she saw a group of mechs fighting the behemoth, each one wearing a red boxy face that, like the purple face, had never seen before and didn't know the meaning behind it.

She ran up and jumped onto it's leg and stabbed its knee with both swords. It yelled and reached down to grab her, but at the last second, she pulled her sword out and jumped onto the hand that could easily crush her. Shadowstar ran up its arm using her boosters to help push her along and ran up to its head and like the knee, she stabbed both blades into the things red optic. She jumped off as it screamed again, reaching up to grab its wounded optic.

The black femme activated her boosters and jumped away from its head, burning a large scortchmark and melting some metal right below the monster's now useless, smoking and sparking optic. She landed in a roll before jumping up and flying up to its back. She slashed between whatever gaps between the armor she could find. As she reached the head, Shadowstar located a small nick between its neck and neck armor. Getting to it would be tricky. That is if she was a normal femme.

Shadowstar ripped at the tough armor till it gave way, all the while dodging the hands of the giant. When there was a hole big enough, she reached her servo in and started tearing out anything she could reach. She did that a few times before her servo brushed something other than wires. She grabbed at it and found it to be ball about the size of both her fists put together. She pulled on it and watched as part of the thing underneath her lost control of one of its arms as it fell to its side. Shadowstar growled and pulled harder. It suddenly came free and she feel into space. The thing roared before falling apart. They all landed roughly.

Shadowstar was the first to recover. Jumping up, she took out one of the five mechs just as they too started recovering. One of them rammed a sword of their own into her shoulder as she took a second out. She ignored the pain and spun toward the mech that had hurt her. She sliced off his arm that was holding the sword, spraying spraying her already energon covered body with fresh energon. She slashed her other sword across the mechs chassis, creating a deep gash that went to his protoform. Finishing the mech, Shadowstar stabbed him through the cut and punctured his spark casing.

Shadowstar continued to fight anyone who tried to kill her. She fought till her swords dulled, but even then, she went to a more... _hands on_ technique.

She tore and slashed with her claw-like servos while she kneed and elbowed bots with the spikes that both protected her joints and could be used as a weapon. Each kill she made added more and more energon and other fluids to her body till she was completely covered.

If other bots could see the femme's face, they would run for their lives. Under her mask, Shadowstar's usual gold optics were blood red and she had a feral grin. But with her mask and visor, everyone who fought her thought she was emotionless as she growls and tears them apart with ease.

Every mech she came across just happened to have a face on them. She didn't care though. She only cared about living with being so close to freedom.

What Shadowstar didn't know, is when she flew out of the Pit, a mech, the leader of the mechs with purple faces on them, ordered his lackeys to subdue the black femme any means necessary. The evil mech new what she was capable of since he watched her quickly rise to the top in the Pits. He knew that if he had her and she was placed against his enemies, he would surely win this war.

The only problem seemed to be was getting a hold of the femme. Every mech who tried, ended up getting deactivated before they could even lay a servo on her.

The mech growled with annoyance. He had no choice but to call a retreat as more of his soldiers were offlined. He growled again as he watched her rip the head off another mech. By letting her fight in his Pits, he had helped to create this monster.

Shadowstar laughed with no humor as she took out a particularly hard mech that was twice her size. When she turned to fight the next mech, there was no one there. She growled in frustration and looked around her to see both mechs and femmes with that red face on each of them form a loose circle around her not to far away, yet far enough away so they were out of her range of attack.

All around her were also every bot she offlined. The bodies were strewn around, torn and ripped apart, bleeding their life blood onto the metal ground. Each one was a lifeless dull grey or in some cases, just now starting to grey as death took its hold on them. But each and everyone of them had fallen prey to the black femme.

A red and blue mech in front of her radiating authority and gentleness took a step toward her. She growled threateningly and held her ground. The mech stopped and held up his hands in surrender gesture.

Two more growls sounded from behind and to the right of her. Shadowstar looked to the source and saw two mechs. One was a golden yellow while the other was a ruby red, both had bright blue optics. They stepped toward her.

The gladiator programming Shadowstar received after first coming into the Pits told her they were challenging her for her position. She answered back with her own growl and moved to a fighting position.

The red and yellow mechs launched themselves at her. She easily dodged the red one, but ran into the fist of the yellow mech. She reeled back from the force, surprised for only an astrosecond. She growled and crouched, watching their movements as they attacked.

Shadowstar narrowed her optics and went on the offensive, attacking the red one. She punched, slashed, and kicked, but the mech somehow managed to dodge every attack. She went to deliver an upper-cut when the yellow mech appeared out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground, landing in a mass of deactivated bodies with him straddling her narrow waist.

He went to punch her, but she used her arm to deflect the blow. She delivered her own punch to the side of his helm, knocking him off. She flipped over her head and landed in a crouch. She activated her boosters and jumped over the ruby mech and kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling. The femme turned to attack the yellow mech, only to find him gone.

Out of nowhere, a golden arm reached around her and put her into a tight choke hold. Had she needed air like an organic, she would be gasping for air. But as it is, a bot needs fresh energon to their processor to continue functioning and the yellow mech was cutting off the flow. Her vision started to dim as she watched the red mech stand up and turn toward them. Shadowstar growled and rammed her sharp elbow spike into her captor's side. The yellow mech grunted, but didn't release his hold. She withdrew the spike and stabbed him again. The mech let her go as he staggered back.

Her release was short lived though. As soon as she was released, the energon rushed back to her processor making her dizzy. Before she could recover, the red mech wrapped his arms around her and squeezed till her armor began to buckle under the pressure. Pain erupted over her sensory net as the wounds she received beforehand were worsened. She grunted as her cooling fans kicked in fast enough they started to wine from the strain of trying to keep her body from overheating.

As a last ditch effort, Shadowstar bashed helm into the helm of the mech holding her. He dropped her and stumbled back. She quickly slammed her servo into the red mech and delivered a roundhouse kick. She ran up behind him and grabbing him, she rammed the spike on her knee into his side. The mech shouted and lurched away.

There was a roar behind her and she turned to address the yellow mech just as his fist slammed into her visor, cracking it. She stumbled back from the force of the blow. Before she could recover, another fist slammed into her mask, denting it. Another quickly followed and as she was stumbling back, two servos grabbed her helm and slammed it into the mechs knee, dislodging her stabilizer. The femme bounced off and fell to the ground in a heap.

From the ground, the femme groaned and tried to get up but was quickly slammed back into the ground with a foot. Shadowstar groaned and tried to get the foot off of her already dented chassis but found her limbs wouldn't go where she wanted them too. Yet another fist slammed into her face. Her arms fell to her sides as her optics started flickering as she tried to stay online.

Shadowstar looked up at the yellow mech and saw his blue optics now red. He slammed his fist into her again, shattering her visor and putting her into stasis.

* * *

**If I need to change anything, let me know.**

_'Meet The Monster' - Five Finger Death Punch_

**I hope you like it so far. If you do, then please leave a review or favorite/follow :)**

**- Au2botStarlight**


	4. Hospital Beds

**Hospital Beds**

Shadowstar's systems slowly came online and the first thing she heard was a constant beeping.

_Deep... Deep... Deep..._

She moved her servo to rub her optics but found herself restrained. Her optics flared to life and she was momentarily blinded by the bright lights until her optics adjusted. Her sparkrate increased as she struggled to escape.

_Deep. Deep. Deep. Deep. Deep!_

"She's awake! Quick, somebot get Ratchet!" Shadowstar heard somebot shout as she continued to struggle. She heard a door open and close and somebot rush toward her. A white and red mech entered her sight.

"Easy kid, we're not here to hurt you." The mech said. Her only response was a growl as she struggled harder to break her bonds.

Two growls sounded nearby. She immediately stopped struggling, shivering a little as her programming told her to obey the owners of the growls. Shadowstar's spark pounded in her chassis. Why hadn't they offlined her? Why did they let her live? They were the victors, not her. She shivered as she waited for them to call her execution.

"You're safe now," the mech standing over her murmured as he checked her still healing wounds to make sure she hadn't reopened anything.

_Safe?_ How could she be safe if the mechs who could call her deactivation at any moment were in the room?

The red mech she fought before appeared at her other side holding his side where she stabbed him. She widened her optics as another shiver of fear ran through her frame.

"Relax femme, we're not going to hurt you," the red mech said with a side grin. "My name's Sideswipe and my twin over there is Sunstreaker." Sideswipe flicked a thumb over his shoulder and pointed to his brother. Shadowstar hesitated before looking at the yellow mech and flinched as she met his glare. "What's your name femme?"

She looked back to the red mech. "Shadowstar, s-sir."

The white and red medic stopped what he was doing and looked at her while Sideswipe burst out laughing. He had to grab the side of her berth to keep from falling over, he was laughing so hard. Shadowstar frowned behind her mask, confused.

After a little bit, he settled down and whipped the optic fluid away. "Ho wow. Never been called a 'sir' before. I appreciate the promotion." He patted her shoulder with a huge grin.

Shadowstar only looked at him in confusion, her fear forgotten. Wasn't she supposed to call him sir? He is after all, the one to decide her fate.

The medic chose that moment to speak up. "Shadowstar, may I take a look at your programming?" She turned to him sharply and growled.

"Don't worry, you can trust the Docbot." Sideswipe reassured her. Shadowstar stopped and reluctantly let him.

A port was opened in the side of her helm and 'Docbot' inserted a cable connected to a datapad. Her golden optics dimmed and flickered out as she let the medic file through her programming.

"Ah, here is why she called you 'sir'." The medic spoke up a few breems later. "She has both slave and gladiator programming. Apparently both programmings are trying to take control. Her gladiator programming is telling her to attack anything that is a enemy while her slave programming is telling her to do what she is told."

"Meaning?" Sunstreaker asked gruffly.

"Meaning since you two beat her, she thinks she has no choice but to do as you say or else you are going to deactivate her." The medic answered.

Sideswipe looked down at the femme on the berth in front of him. "But we would never do anything like that to her."

"But she doesn't know that."

Sideswipe looked up at the medic on the other side of the berth near Shadowstar's helm. "Can't you delete something, Ratchet?"

Ratchet let out a deep vent and unplugged the cord from its port. "Unless her life is at stake, then no, not without her permission."

SIdeswipe frowned down at Shadowstar. "I thought all the gladiatorial pits were destroyed." He murmured to no bot in particular, unease hitting his spark.

"As did I," Ratchet vented. Ratchet opened a private comm to his leader. **_([Prime? We have a problem.])_**

Sometime later, Shadowstar awoke out of recharge. She found herself still bound and she momentarily panicked before she remembered everything that had happened before. She looked around and found that red mech from before, Sideswipe she remembered, leaning back in a chair next to her berth, deep in recharge. She watched him for a few astroseconds before looking around.

She saw other patients laying around her on their own berths in recharge. Shadowstar concluded that she was in a medical bay.

_At least it's cleaner than the med bays in the Pit, _She thought as she looked around.

A door opened at the other side of the room allowing the same white and red medic from earlier in. Shadowstar watched him approach.

"Glad to see you online, Shadowstar." The medic said as he checked her monitors. He turned to her. "I wasn't able to introduce myself before. My name is Ratchet and I'm the Autobot's Chief Medical Officer." The mech introduced himself.

Shadowstar frowned. "What is an Autobot?"

Ratchet looked at her with surprise. How could nobot know what an Autobot was when half the planet was allied to the faction? Then again, she _was_ in a Pit that no bot knew about till their most recent battle. "The Autobots are a faction in the war." He pointed to the face on his chest then motioned to everybot in the room. "We all are Autobots."

"What war?"

"The war between Autobots and Decepticons. The Decepticons are our enemies. They're trying to take over Cybertron and its energon reserves. And as Autobots, it's our duty to stop them."

Shadowstar was silent for a few breems. "If the Autobots win the war, what are you planning on doing?"

"We plan on rebuilding Cybertron back to its former glory." Ratchet vented, "But with the way this war is going, it'll be many vorns before either side wins."

"Are Decepticons the ones with the purple faces on them?" Shadowstar asked as she replayed the scenes of her ripping mechs apart in her HUD.

"Yes, and they are the ones you offlined."

She looked up at the ceiling, lost in thought. She wanted so badly to be let free of her restraints, but knew better than to ask.

"I will be back. I need to check on my other patients." With that, Ratchet turned away and did as he said.

Shadowstar watched him go. She frowned behind her mask and tugged at her restraints a bit. She vented and settled into the berth, falling into a light recharge.

* * *

**In my opinion, a boring chapter, but necessary. :/**

_'Hospital Beds' - Cold War Kids  
_

**I don't own anything except for my OC(s).**

**Hope you like it, if you do, leave a review or favorite/follow :)**

**- Au2botStarlight**


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